


Lay here (forget the world)

by Novaviis



Series: Watercolour [10]
Category: Young Justice (Cartoon)
Genre: Cuddling & Snuggling, Fluff, Fluff and Hurt/Comfort, Guilt, Injury Recovery, M/M, Puppy Love, Recovery, Sleepy Cuddles, Sweet
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-12
Updated: 2017-09-12
Packaged: 2018-12-26 19:29:10
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,089
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12065514
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Novaviis/pseuds/Novaviis
Summary: Dick spends a day at the Cave during his recovery.





	Lay here (forget the world)

**Author's Note:**

> I've had the beginning of this saved in my drafts for months. Figured I was due for some fluff. Enjoy.

_Recognized: Batman 02_

_Recognized: Robin B01_

The moment the disjointed voice echoed through the cave of Mount Justice, every young hero perked up. From their place in the living room, M’gann and Artemis exchanged a glance, pausing their film to sit up.

M’gann beamed. “Do you think Wally heard that?”

Artemis flipped the remote over a few times in her hand. In reply for her, a blur of copper red hair, jeans, and green plaid sped past the doorway and down the hall. The aftermath caused a gust of wind to blow popcorn out of the bowl between them. Artemis smiled back. “I think he did.”

It'd been two weeks. Two weeks of vague updates, of trying to work around the absence of their teammate, of just – not really talking about it in the context of what actually happened. It had been a lot of “Robin's doing good,” and “he should be back in a few days,” and “looks like it'll be a little while longer”. Two weeks since Robin had been nearly fatally shot. Wally was the only one who'd seen him since, and that was almost a week ago. Dick had been asleep for half the visit, and Wally had told them that he didn't have the heart to wake him up. So, in summary, it had been quiet. Not depressingly so, but there was a tone missing from Mount Justice.

So, it was understandable that hearing his arrival sent a thrum of excitement through the cave; for one speedster in particular.

Wally had bolted from his room when he heard his boyfriend's name broadcast through the cave. Racing down the corridors with his chest so full he felt it might burst, he headed straight to the central cavern of the Cave. He skidded to a stop, just as the swirling glow of the zeta tubes faded. Bruce Wayne, clad in a business suit and sunglasses, appeared from the light, pushing a wheelchair, where Dick leaned heavily against the back. He was pale – hard to tell, with the sweatpants, sweatshirt, and sunglasses he was wearing covering up most of his skin but – Wally could tell. He was pale, and fatigued, looked like he could barely hold his head up on his shoulders. But he was there – and he was smiling at Wally as he looked up to see him.

Wally stopped, took in the sight like a punch to the gut. He teased Dick all the time about his height, but he'd never really seen him look so... small. Dick's soft smile had him shaking out of his stupor. Wally ran forward, stumbling over himself in his excitement and haste to get to his boyfriend.

With the conviction of a man trying to stop a bull from entering a china shop, Bruce stepped up from behind Dick's chair. “Easy,” he snapped, holding out a hand to stop the speedster from coming closer.

It took only that one small gesture and command for Wally to skid to a hault a few feet away from the dynamic duo. He ducked his head in embarrassment.

  
“It's fine, B,” Dick reached up to nudge his guardian aside. He was more than capable of handling an overexcited speedster.

Bruce complied, albeit not without sending Wally a cautionary glare. Wally nodded, taking heed of the silent warning. He approached slowly, with a little more care, kneeling in front of Dick's chair with his hands on either arm rest. “Long time no see, huh?” he laughed, the sound squeezed from his rib-cage as a fleeting smile dashed across his face. “A guy could start to get ideas about your interest, boy wonder.”

Dick only shrugged, a tired smile tugging at the corner of his mouth. “Don't worry, I was only avoiding you a _little_ bit.”

“A _little_ bit?” Wally grinned. “Thank God, I thought you might be going soft on me.”

“Well,” Dick smirked, “Maybe a solid 75% of the time.”

“What about the other 25%?”

“Rockin' out in med induced sleep.”

Wally shook his head. “Y'know, I was worried all those meds would dampen your oh-so witty sense of humour. Maybe I shouldn't have been so concerned.”

“You should be more concerned about building your own sense of humour before you worry about mine.”

Wally made a face, nose scrunched up as he mock glared at his boyfriend. “Is it too late to take that back? Maybe a humour dampening would do you good.”

Shifting back in his chair, Dick crossed his arms. “Far too late,” he quipped. Even the small movement was made with tender care. Dick seemed to be aware of every muscle in his body, which ones were save, and which ones caused the hole in his abdomen to flare up in agony. Wally took in the small detail with a knot in his brow.

The clatter of shoes against the stone floor of the cave crescendo from around the corner, rebounding off the rugged walls. Wally glanced behind him to see the team making their way into the main cavern. Within moments, they'd gathered around Dick's chair, going through the predictable questions over his well being, what he'd been up to, how he was feeling, what he'd missed, etc. Wally stood up at that point, glancing over at Dick with a quick look before his gaze was shifting to find Bruce heading back toward the zeta tubes.

“Wait,” he called out as he jogged to catch up to him. “Br-” the moment the very syllable left his tongue, Bruce was turning around to give him a sharp glare. Even through the shades covering his eyes, Wally felt the intensity of it piercing through him. He corrected himself. “Uh, B...” Wally trailed off, rubbing the back of his neck. “Listen, it uh... it had nothing to do with you.”

Bruce listed a dark brow.

Wally backtracked. His ears burned, throat clenching. “I mean, uh... y'know, me and Dick...” he swallowed hard. “Um... because you're – well, _you_ , I know you probably figured it out by now... after what happened. I just kinda wanted to tell you that us not coming out and saying anything about it... I asked Dick not to tell,” Wally sighed, finally dropping his arm, his head, even his shoulders seeming to slump forward in defeat. He couldn't bring himself to look Bruce in the eye. “It's just... my folks-”

“Wally,” Bruce cut him off. Wally lifted his head, shrinking under the Dark Knight. “I understand.”

Wally blinked. “Oh.” Well, that was a lot easier than he thought it'd be. Wally had assumed there would be a lot more grovelling involved. For some strange reason, and he could have been imagining it all, but the simplicity of Bruce's response, and the way he turned his body to stand face to face with him seemed like a lot more than understanding – maybe bordering approval. But Wally wasn't feeling brace enough to ask further.

Bruce's attention shifted from the young speedster and to his ward. “Robin will stay here until this evening. I have matters to attend to. His pain medication is in the bag on the back of his chair. He's to take it every four hours with water and something to eat.”

Wally frowned. “Okay, but – what about Agent A? Not that I'm complaining about Rob coming by, but can't he-”

But then Bruce was turning his back, walking into the swirling light of the zeta tube, and disappearing without so much as a word. Wally bristled. Should've figured any attempt at a heart to heart with the big guy wouldn't last long. With a huff, Wally turned around and headed back toward the others.

“So, no mission today?” he caught Dick asking the team.  
  
“No,” Artemis replied haughtily. “It's been quiet on the mission front lately. I think the baddies are running out of ideas.”

“So, boring?”

“Pretty much.”

Dick laughed. “Well, so sorry to have missed all the excitement,” he said as Wally stopped behind his chair with a hand resting on the backrest. Dick tilted his head back to give him an upside down grin. “What about you? Not enjoying the vacation?”

Wally scoffed. “I wish. Canary's just been using it as an excuse to kick our asses every weekend.”

“What, sparring's not enough action for you?”

“Not without my sparring partner,” Wally smirked.

“Bet I could still take you.”

“Pft, yeah, maybe when you _don't_ have a two inch whole in your gut, smartass.”

“Nope. I could totally take you.”

“Alright, tough guy,” Wally took the handles on the back of Dick's chair. “Whatever you say.”

They retired back to the living room, walking in a group until a few of them split off, back to their earlier tasks. Wally, a little unsure of himself, pushed Dick's chair toward the couch, only to hesitate, wondering how the hell he was going to move Dick onto the cushions. He didn't want to hurt him, and he wasn't quite sure how to pick him up without jostling anything that shouldn't be jostled. By the time he stepped around the chair to help, Dick was already using his arms to lift himself from the arm rests of the chair, shifting on his feet enough to turn sideways, before falling back against the cushions.

Wally stumbled forward. “Dude, careful.”

Settling down on the sofa, Dick regarded Wally with a menagerie of confusion and endearment. “Walls, I've had a bit of practice at this by now. My legs aren't exactly broken.”

Wally frowned. “I know, but-”

“It's fine.”

Figuring that just letting it go was better than getting into an argument about it (a terrific bit of self improvement on his part), Wally sighed and flopped onto the couch next to his boyfriend. On the adjacent couch, M'gann and Artemis settled down again, with Zatanna joining in beside her girlfriend.

“What are we watching?” Zatanna asked as she kicked her feet up on the ottoman.

M'gann was quick to answer. “Planet Earth!” she squealed. It'd been her favourite as of late, and despite the fact that it had been played more than a few times by now, no one seemed to complain.

As M'gann unpaused the film, the music swelled. Wally tossed an arm around Dick's shoulder and leaned in to whisper in his ear. “So what was with Bruce?”

“Dunno,” Dick frowned, eyes on the screen as he leaned in against the speedster. “He just started acting really weird this morning. There was a knock at the door during breakfast, and Alfred went to go answer it. Then Alfred came back and whispered something to Bruce, and then Bruce went to the door. When he came back he just told me to get dressed, and that I was going to the cave until tonight. He wouldn't tell me what was going on.”

“Weird,” Wally conceded.

“Whatever,” Dick shrugged. “I don't want to talk about him. I want to watch.”

“Fine, fine,” Wally muttered. Shifting to the side, Wally leaned back against a pillow on the armrest, and he used his arm around Dick to tug him down with him. Dick gave, then instantly tensed, hissed, gasped, hand shooting out to braced against his boyfriend. Wally shot up, an ashamed heart burning in his gut as his hands hovered over Dick. “Sorry! Shit, I'm sorry.”

Zatanna frowned from the other couch. “Is he alright?”

“It's fine,” Dick managed out through clenched teeth. He breathed through his nose, harsh, for a moment before finally seemed to relax. “It's fine, just - here, help me lay down.”

Wally nodded, bracing his hand on Dick's back as he lowered him down. In the end, Dick situated himself laying against Wally's chest, between him and the back of the couch, slightly turned on his side. It took a bit of shifting, but he managed to get comfortable, the tension slowly seeping from his muscles. The same went for Wally – the stress of having caused his boyfriend any pain likewise draining. “Sorry,” he murmured again.

“It was an accident,” Dick replied. “It's fine.”

The film soon took their attention away from the incident. The soothing narration and ambient background music providing a calming atmosphere. M'gann and Artemis had been watching the Arctic episode. Not too far in, either. A comfortable silence filled the room as the film went on, flashes of ice, and ice, and endless ice flickering over the screen. Dick sighed, snuggling back a little further against Wally. That sigh quickly turned into a yawn, as, on cue, the lights in the room dimmed down. Dick lifted a brow, glancing to his side to see the green glow fading from M'gann's eyes as she lowered her hand. It'd been outstretched toward the dimmer switch. She looked back at him with a sheepish shrug. “You looked like you were getting tired.”

“Me? Tired?' Dick laugh. “Nah, I could run a marathon if I wanted.”

“Yeah, and I'm Bugs Bunny,” Wally rolled his eyes.

Dick made a face, its effect entirely lost on Wally, who only shrugged it off and gaze him a lazy grin. Dick retaliated by flicking him on the nose before turning back to the documentary with a smug grin. A pair pf polar bear cubs were coming out of their den for the first time, and that was _much_ more interesting than Wally's teasing.

Wally rubbed his nose, but otherwise let it go, his arms looping around Dick, careful to mind his wound. “Cute, huh?” he muttered, just low enough for Dick to hear. Didn't need the girls biting his head off for talking during the movie. Dick turned his head up, watching as Wally's hazel eyes lock on the landscape on the screen, enthralled. “We should go there one day.”

“To the Arctic?” Dick muttered as he looked back. A barren expanse of ice and snow stretched on endlessly. “No, it looks.... lonely.”

Odd choice of words, but Wally let it go.

He didn't know when it happened, but the tranquil tones of the narrator (let's be honest, it was the British accent) eventually lulled Wally into a light sleep. Dick's warmth, his solid weight against his chest, released a tension deep between his shoulder blades. Light though it was, it was the best sleep he'd had in – well, exactly two weeks. Every breath Dick exhaled fanned over his neck, his nose pressed to the underside of Wally's jaw. Wally kept a secure hold around him, and Dick likewise tried to squeeze in as close as he could get without moving badly.

Wally didn't know how long he'd been asleep, but it was apparently long enough that sleep still clung to him with a stubborn grip. His eyes were heavy, brain plugged full of molasses that dripped slowly into his veins. Wally groaned, tried to duck his head away from whatever was rousing him – then the source started elbowing him in the said.  
  
“ _Walls_.”

Dick. Wally's eyes shot open. It took every ounce of restraint that he had not to sit up quickly, instinct in overdrive telling him to _move_ , and move _fast_. Wally carefully propped himself up, looking down at the young vigilante laying across his body. Dick was pale, eyes squeezed shut, teeth clenched – just short of writhing. Sweat had broken out over his forehead, glistening over his skin and threatening to drip down his nose. “Wall- m'meds, _please_ ,” he grunted.

“Shit- uh, okay, j-just hold on.” Gently worming his way out from underneath Dick, he lowered him down onto the sofa. The instant he was clear, he sped into the kitchen in a blur. He only just noticed that M'gann and Artemis were nowhere to be seen, the title screen for Planet Earth casting the room in a blue haze. The lights were off. Wally grabbed a bottle of water and a granola bar, the first thing he put his hands on, from the kitchen before racing back into the living room. He nearly ripped the seams on Dick's backpack trying to get the thing open and search for the little orange pill bottle. Once he had what he needed, he helped Dick sit up. “Easy,” he muttered. “Here.”

Dick took the bottle and pills from Wally first, managing to get the top off after a few tries and popping one into his mouth. He chased it down, water dribbling down his chin and onto his sweater. It was only when he'd emptied half the bottle that he pulled back and opened the granola bar to get something in his stomach.

Wally sat beside Dick as he ate, reaching out a tentative hand to rub his back. It felt like the right thing to do. Comforting maybe? Wally wasn't sure how to handle any of this, his relationship with Dick was new enough as it was. He didn't know the boundaries for this, what was actually helping and what was just an annoyance, or making things worse, or-

“Wally.” Dick's voice broke through hi mounting anxiety. Wally's eyes snapped up to meet Dick's. “Thank you.”

“I- right, um...” Wally couldn't bring himself to say 'you're welcome'. He sighed, slumping forward to nuzzle his face against Dick's shoulder. “I'm sorry,” he muttered instead.

Wally couldn't see it, but he knew that Dick was frowning. “Wally, it's fine, we were asleep,” he said with an edge of pain still in his voice. The medication would take a while to work into his system. “Honestly, I should have set an alarm-”

“ _No_ , Dick,” Wally's voice was muffled by the fabric of Dick's sweater. “I'm _sorry_.”

Dick reached out, hand on Wally's shoulder to gently push him back. “Wally, don't.”

Wally averted his gaze. “I hesitated,” he confessed. “I saw the gun, and – I _hesitated_ , I _–_ ”

“Hey,” Dick interrupted, his hand coming up to hover over Wally's cheek before making up its mind and resting against his jaw. “Knock it off. None of that matters, it's done. Okay?” he offered a smile, what he could manage of one anyway. "I'm here, and so are you so let's just -  _be_ here."

Wally wanted to protest. He wanted to sit and be sorry and miserable, but it seemed that Dick just wouldn't let him – and he'd never been so grateful for that. Wally shook his head, laughing with an out breath. His hand came up over Dick's. “You know just how to sweet talk me, babe.”

Dick smiled, fatigue heavy and weak. With his hand on Wally's cheek, he guided him toward him, catching his mouth in a soft kiss. Wally allowed himself to be pulled forward, feeling a quiet voltage swim through his body when their lips met. All at once, Wally's other hand came up, and he leaned into it, brows furrowed as he kissed Dick, gentle and pulling everything he could from it. When finally they parted, Dick pressed their foreheads together, just taking that one florescent moment in. Leaning forward for another light peck, Wally shifted, and this time with Dick's guidance, helped lower the two of them back against the sofa again, stretching their legs out to the opposite arm rest. Wally pulled a blanket down from over the top of the couch, clumsily trying to drape it over the two of them.

The next hours were spent in a tide between naps and TV and video games, as Dick's medication worked through his system. Exhaustion made his body heavy. He fell asleep Wally's turn doing a run on Sonic, right against the speedster. Even started to drool just a little bit. Woulda been hilarious if it hadn't been so _fucking cute_. Which, again, called into question Wally's sense of humour. The hours poured on, broken up with the other members of the team coming into the living room, quiet chatter. It was a little disorienting, spending so much time inside the Cave. There were no windows on his level, and the passing of time was difficult to gauge. Before either of them had realized, the Zeta Tube's electronic voice broadcast through the cave.

_Recognized: Batman 02_

The process of getting Dick back into the wheel chair wasn't that difficult, or necessarily that long, but he and Wally took their time. Wally pushed Dick back toward the main cavern, having already promised to stop by the Manor tomorrow to visit. Dick, no surprise, was dying of boredom, being forced to stay in bed all day. As they rounded the corner of the corridor and into the Cave, they caught sight of Bruce logging something into the Cave's holocomputer archive. He was still clad in the same suit, his jacket abandoned and his sleeves rolled up. As he heard them enter, Bruce shut down the computer and turned around.

“Ready to go?” Bruce asked as he turned around. “Agent A's got casserole on-”

“Hang on,” Wally interrupted. “What you had on the computer – what was that?”

Bruce's eyes narrowed beneath his sunglasses. “None of your concern.”

Wally pressed on, stepping out from behind a confused Dick's chair. “No, it was a feather, wasn't it? I've seen it before.”

“I'm sure you've seen a great deal of _feathers_ in your life, Wally,” Bruce rolled his eyes.

Groaning in frustration at not being listened to, Wally disappeared in a gust of wind and a blur. He reappeared seconds later with a long white feather in hand. “It looked exactly like this one, right? Like an Owl's feather.”

Bruce took the feather from Wally, pinching it at the spin and twirling it slowly between his fingers to examine it. His mouth set in a hard line. “Where did you get this?”

Finally catching on to where this was going, Dick chimed in. “On July 3rd this summer – when Wally and I were investigating that lab in Gotham Harbour. After we'd escaped the freighter, we were catching our breath on the beach,” code: making out, “and it just came out of nowhere. It embedded in the sand at our feet.”

Bruce turned his back to the boys, waving his hand through the air to activate the computer again. “You said that was connected to the Cadmus break-in and Luthor Corp's fraud?”

“Yeah,” Dick nodded. Gripping the wheels of his chair, he pushed himself forward. “Whoever was behind all this was stealing ingredients for a hallucinogenic drug and some genomorph worm thi-”

Bruce's head snapped down to his word, an expression entirely new and a little frightening to Wally flashing over his face. His brows pulled up, breath hitched in his throat. Bruce, for the first time Wally had seen, looked shocked. “Did you say worm?”

Dick frowned. “Yes, it was a worm with the same skin patterns as the gegnomes from Cadmus.”

“Why are you only telling me this now.”

“Because it got blown up? Along with the rest of the freighter and the freaky ninjas on it?” Dick rolled his eyes.

Bruce's gaze snapped back to the computer. Hand swiping over the light field, he sorted through files until what he had been looking at came up again. A white feather had been logged beside a little white worm, identical to the one Wally and Dick had seen the night of their 'adventure'. “This is how I was compromised the night I shot you,” he gritted out. He waved his hand again. A video, taken from a street camera in Gotham, recorded the Bank Height Batman and Robin had stopped. During the scuffle, when one of the theifs got a lucky open handed hit to Batman, a minuscule flicker of white moved from his hand to the cowl. The video zoomed in and replayed again, showing the worm enter through Bruce's mouth.

Dick and Wally watched the video in stunned silence. Dick swallowed. “Who are these people?”

Bruce was quiet for a moment, reluctant to confess. “I don't know.” He shook his head. “Come on. Let's go home.” Without waiting for a response, he stepped behind Dick's chair and took the handles. Taking this as his cue to say goodbye, Wally sighed and bent over to give Dick a careful hug, not daring anything more with Bruce watching. He muttered his promise to visit again before stepping back, and allowing Bruce to push Dick toward the Zeta tubes.

“Wait,” Dick blurted. Bruce stopped, albeit reluctantly. “You still haven't explained why you freaked out this morning. What happened?”

Bruce clenched his jaw a moment before continuing toward the Zeta tubes. “There was one of those feathers on the front porch this morning. It was stabbed through the breast of a dead robin.”

 

**Author's Note:**

> I mean if you were expecting 100% fluff, you don't know me at all. As always, comments are appreciated.


End file.
